Frugal Tuesday - Costs to Raise Chicken for Meat

If any of you have raised chickens for meat you most likely are very well aware of some of the differences between home grown and "factory farm" grown chicken. For one thing, they don't taste anything like what you purchase in the stores and if you have raised them with the freedom to run all over the farm they can be a bit tough to eat and the flavor is much different. Of course this depends greatly on the breed as well. The beautiful guy you see in the photo is definitely not very tasty. He has been running around all over the farm having a great time with the ladies and as a result his muscles are very well developed so he would be very tough and require a lot marinading to make him remotely palatable. He is also too old. Oh well...  Lucky for him he is not a meat bird. :)

But lets say you wanted to raise some chickens specifically for meat. Would it be cost effective? Is that a factor? or do you just want food you have raised yourself or maybe something organically or humanely raised?

The best and cheapest way to do this of course would be to have your own multipurpose hens raise or at least hatch the chicks for you but this isn't always possible especially if you want them to all be ready to butcher at the same time or want a meat bird that is.. well meaty! Another way to use your all purpose breeds is to save the eggs for a while and then using an incubator hatch them all at once. This way you can separate them from the rest of the flock and watch their diet much more carefully.

This is what I found in my area, but where you live prices might be quite a bit different, so it is always a good idea to do your research before taking on a project like this. My reasons for raising chickens for meat are a bit varied. Personally I don't want birds that have been fed antibiotics and kept in tiny little cages or even so called free range barns with no room to really move and never seeing sunshine or doing what chickens do. I want my food to be raised well and fed well. In short I guess I want to know where it is coming from. If butchering is something you have difficulty doing you might be able to find a butcher around who will do it for you but I would rather do it myself so I know it is done correctly and quickly. It's never a fun job but I always figured if I'm going to eat meat I should be able to do that part myself as well.

So, enough said! Lets count the cost so we can see if its doable. One of the most popular meat chickens here is the Cornish Giant. Many chickens breed specifically for meat can have problems with their legs as they grow very quickly, therefore they must be fed a proper and monitored diet so as to no over load them. The nice thing about them is they can be butchered anytime after 8 weeks although I prefer 10 or 12 weeks of age and the feed to meat average is two pounds of feed for one pound of meat. This is pretty reasonable especially if you can find a decent price for feed.

First of course you need the starter feed then the grower and they come in 50 pound bags. Roughly you can average about 4 to 5 chickens finished per bag of feed. So... Lets say we were going to raise 25 birds to start what would it cost? Remember these are my prices (I found a new feed place with GREAT prices!) check your area and see what they are for you.

Purchased chicks: $1.82 each. 25 x $1.77 = $44.25
Chick Starter: 50 lb. bag - $9.99 1 x $9.99 = $9.99 (they only need it for the first 3.5 weeks but 25 birds will probably eat a whole bag, especially if you mix it in with the grower feed for a bit)
Grower Feed: 50 lb. bags - $13.99 4 x $13.99 = $55.96
Total cost = $110.20

This works out to approximately $4.41 per chicken. Not to bad really when I consider in the store the cheapest chicken parts I've seen it lately is $2/lb and whole birds are usually about $8 on a real good sale.

But, is there a cheaper way? Of course! However, this depends on where you live and if you are able to acquire grains for cheap or free from nearby farmers. Meat or grower birds need on average 20 percent protein to start but once they are 3.5 weeks old the protein levels need to be lowered to 17% and at 7 weeks to 14%. By using a high protein mix (which has 35% protein) and mixing it with grains at about 3 to one for the 3.5 to 7 week range, and a bit less after that, I can save a bit of money. Depending of course on what type of grain I find. There is a great protein chart here which lists almost all types of feeds and their protein content.

So... Counting the cost this way.

Purchased chicks: $1.77 each. 25 x $1.77 = $44.25
Chick Starter: 50 lb. bag - $9.99 1 x $9.99 = $9.99
Grains from nearby farms - Varies (last time I had to purchase some I payed the farmer about $20 for about 420 lbs. and for these birds I would need about 150 lbs. Which would be about $7.14.
High Protein Feed: 50 lb. bags - $18.99, 1.5 x $18.99 = $28.48
Total cost = $91.11 or $3.59/each bird

Of course you may find another way to acquire feed. Perhaps you can grow it yourself or have other grains of higher protein content in the surrounding farms. Either way, despite the work involved its worth it. Besides, if you love chickens the way I do, the work is half the fun! (well, except for the butchering of course)

Money saved this year if I raise 25 of my own meat birds? $108.89 If I raise 50 (which is more likely) its $217.78. Piece of mind? Priceless!

Thank you to Frugally Sustainable, the Prairie Homestead and Common Sense Homesteading for their blog hops.

Frugal Tuesday - Cost per Chicken for Eggs vs Buying

So, I got to thinking again the other day and you know how once I ask a question I have to find the answer. If you haven't guessed most of my questions are posed to me through conversations with Mountain Man. He is always asking me to prove to myself whether it is best to do things one way or another and since I love to learn it works out great for both of us. Today's question is this. How much does it really cost to feed chickens in return for eggs, is it really worth it or should I just buy them from the store or a neighbors.

My first thought is that it's a no brainer. I know eggs from free range hens are much healthier than anything store bought and I love having chickens around. Their funny antics keep me laughing and they produce wonderful high protein food for my family. What's not to love?

However as I try to set aside emotion to analyse this I keep coming up with more questions.  Did you purchase the chickens full grown? As one day olds? At about 5 or 6 weeks of age? Or were they hatched out on your homestead by a broody bird? Each age has a different price tag attached to it. The cheapest is to allow one of your hens to go broody and raise some babies for you. Barring that, the least amount of work is to purchase 5 or 6 week olds from a neighbor for about $4 or $5 each. For the sake of making it easier lets assume you did the last option and purchased 3 hens. If you want babies you will need a rooster as well which will add to the cost but if you don't the hens will lay eggs just fine without one. Lets just concentrate on the hens for now and if you decide to add a rooster the cost can be added on later.

Each adult chicken will eat approximately 1/4 pound of feed per day. A bag of purchased layer feed is 50 pounds and costs me approximately $35 (you may be able to get it cheaper where you live). That is about 17.5 cents a day per chicken. The average multi-purpose hen will lay approximately 260 eggs per year at peak performance.  It works out to $63.88 spent per chicken per year with a return of approximately 21.66 dozen eggs if you purchase all their food from a store. Remember this is also at peak performance without taking into consideration the feed to raise them to this level or for when they start producing less.

So, how much do you spend on eggs? The cheapest I can purchase them at the store is about $2.65/dozen which is $52.14 a year for the amount of eggs 1 hen will lay.  So, if I was to have chickens and purchase all their feed I am actually losing money to the tune of $11.74 per chicken. Of course I am getting all those lovely eggs and they are much better for me than the store bought ones. Also, since the chickens are free range they eat a lot of bugs etc in the summer thereby eating less purchased feed, and I give them all my kitchen scraps. Maybe in the end it works out to fairly even? But don't forget the extra's purchased such as oyster shells etc. Sigh.... OK.  It's not going to work out cheaper this way, so lets look at alternatives.

There IS a cheaper way to do it. I found this out while talking to my local merchant at a feed store. Most feed stores have a mix you can purchase that is specifically for supplementing and adding protein to grains such as wheat, corn, oats and barley. It is mixed in at a ratio of 7 to 1 depending of course on what type of grain you have on hand. One scoop of the purchased mix to 7 scoops of your mix of grain. While it is a little bit more expensive ($45/ 50 lb bag) it has a concentrated protein and is a LOT cheaper if you have farmers around who don't mind if you clean out the bottom of their grain bins for them. Free grain is always a good bargain and the hens certainly don't mind the leavings! By using this method I cut my cost down to just over $9 per year per chicken for feed. Not bad! Of course this depends on finding farmers who will allow you to clean out their grain bins for free. If I have to purchase grains in bulk from a farmer my cost goes up.

But wait! Can't you make your own mix? Sure you can, but it isn't always easy to find the grains necessary. Laying hens need about 18% protein in their diet. The grains grown locally here don't have the protein needed. Wheat is 12.5 % protein, corn is 9 %, oats is 14 %, and barley 12.3 %. So if you were to feed only grains they would not be getting enough protein except for in the summer if they can find a lot of bugs. However, if you have a worm farm and can supplement their diet, as earthworms are about 28% protein. Don't forget the whey! If you make cheese this lovely by product is loaded with protein. There is a great list of grains and their protein levels here as well as a wealth of information about creating your own chicken feed. Maybe you have farmers in your area who can supply you with cheaper alternatives.

The first eggs my chickens gifted me with. Yum!

So, what to do? Myself, I can easily get grain for next to nothing or for free but if I didn't live here I'm not sure. It works out to balancing what is good for you versus what is less costly. Myself, I will take the goodness every time if I can. But it sure is worth considering the options and doing a lot of research before just deciding to do it.

Also link in to Frugally Sustainable's Blog Hop.